The Art of Managing
Your Career

Do you need a professional kick start to your creative career? Tired of working in a basement/coffee shop and want a real, yet affordable office space? Do you need support and direction with the business side of your art? Feel a need to connect with peers facing similar challenges?

The Art of Managing Your Career may be for you! Guided by a Team Leader that is a professional in their field, this program will provide artists with access to a professional co-work space and business skills training delivered by seasoned industry professionals. Participants will also get access to coaching from industry experts in business planning, finance and tax management, marketing and social media, and life work balance. This program is open to artists of all disciplines running their own creative practice.

Participants will attend alternating weekly professional development and peer networking sessions every Tuesday evening at Creative Manitoba. Outside of this time, participants will have access to Creative Manitoba’s Exchange co-working space to continue developing their arts business practices. Participants will also receive coaching from subject matter experts in various fields and be able to drop in for Team Lead office hours!

And because life in the arts shouldn’t all be serious, there will be social sharing nights and showcase opportunities. Artists will be able to participate in First Friday events and showcase their work.

Class Dates

The program runs every Tuesday evening from February 4, 2025 to April 8, 2025. Participants must be a member of Creative Manitoba or Manitoba Music.

Program Benefits

- Entrepreneurial training – business planning, marketing, financial management, grant writing, work life balance
- Access to a hot desk with fast WiFi
- Discipline-specific business coaching
- Peer networking opportunities
- Group showcases (First Fridays, etc)

Cost

The cost for the five-month, weekly incubator is $300 per participant ($150 upon acceptance, and $150 in January). A flexible payment plan can be arranged. Our All Access Inclusion Bursary is open to completely subsidize a select number of spots. We believe that cost should not be a barrier to accessing our programming and would like to work with participants. Please contact us at training@creativemanitoba.ca if you have questions about the program or bursary.

Applications are now closed. Sign up for our newsletter to find out when the next Art of Managing Your Career session will open for applications!

Meet Your Program Leader

Onna Lou

Onna Lou is an Argentinian-Canadian artist, who has called Winnipeg home since 2016. With degrees from Berklee College of Music and Universidad Católica Argentina, she blends traditional folk with contemporary sounds.

Her 2022 album, Diamante, supported by Canada Council for the Arts, spent 15 weeks on the Earshot Charts, reaching #1 on three. As part of the 3.4% of female producers in the industry, she writes, plays, and records her own music.

A 2023 Western Canadian Music Awards nominee for Global Artist of the Year, Onna Lou began her touring Canada in 2022, performing in Vancouver, Kelowna, Calgary, Toronto, London, Red Rock, and Ottawa since. She also regularly performs in Argentina.

Her music has been featured on CBC, CKUA, LiveTV, newspapers, and podcasts worldwide.

Always innovating, she incorporates unique elements into her live shows, such as two cellos on stage, and a string quintet for her upcoming album Quiero verte volar, arriving November 21, 2025. Its first single drops March 21, ahead of her British Columbia tour with Home Routes. The album was created with support from Manitoba Arts Council and Manitoba Film and Music.

In Partnership with

This program has been developed in partnership with Manitoba Music. A select number of spots will be reserved for artists working in the music industry.